technique

Originally posted 2007-01-22 17:39:14. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

My Sunday stitching project at the moment is an older canvas and Iâ€™m stitching it in hand. Working on it yesterday got me thinking about canvas.

High-quality canvas, like Zweigart mono, is made from 100% cotton. The stiffness of a new needlepoint canvas comes from sizing added to the canvas once it is woven. Sizing also makes canvas hard on threads because the stiff sizing wears out the thread more quickly than the smooth fabric alone.

Sizing is removed from canvas is several ways. If you thoroughly wet the canvas, you notice itâ€™s a bit sticky — thatâ€™s the sizing. Wet it and wring it out a couple more times and the sizing is removed.

As you stitch the canvas, your needle moves the canvas back and forth – this will eventually break down the sizing. Folding the canvas also does this along the fold.

Finally the sizing disappears as the canvas gets old.

In my case, the canvas was folded (and I know better) and it is three years old. So itâ€™s very soft. Iâ€™m still crumpling it up in hand, so I donâ€™t mind too much, but if you have an old canvas and want stiffness, your only solution is to stretch it on a frame. Stretching and the tension it brings will put stiffness back into the canvas. I would go further and say just use Evertite bars because you will need to adjust the tension more often with an older canvas.

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On Older Canvas

Threads & Shading Class Starts February 15

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

mondrian, piet amaryllis for technique needlepoint class, traught by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

Isn’t this Amaryllis by Piet Mondrian striking?

It’s so simple, so modern, but in such bright colors.

And it’s the canvas for my next class for Art Needlepoint, starting February 15, 2012. Suitable for beginners, it has a taste of many different techniques including:

padding
textured stitches
outlining
pattern darning
shadow stitching

YOu’ll learn these techniques and more and use three different types of thread with your purchase of the complete kit. My classes for Art Needlepoint are free with the purchase of the kit.

Best of all, those purchasing the kit for purposes of this class get a special discount.

Learning one or two techniques in a class is unusual, and here you’ll learn several in an email class so you can stitch in your comfy chair, in your PJs, and at your own pace.

Remember the class starts February 15, 2012, so order your kit today.

See the article here:
Threads & Shading Class Starts February 15

Free Embroidery Patterns

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-10-23 06:52:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

With the renewed interest in free embroidery (embroidery on a on-counted ground or fabric), you can find lots of pretty cool free patterns intended to transfer onto a piece of fabric.

But you can just as easily transfer them onto apiece of needlepoint canvas and use them as a line-drawing for your needlepoint.

Today we are going to talk about what to look for when you want to do this and tomorrow we will begin a step-by-step tutorial on how to go from a free pattern on the Web to a finished needlepoint.

When you look at embroidery transfer designs, what you see are the lines of the design which will be covered with stitching. Most free embroidery of this type relies on the fabric to covey the design and so they have lots of open spaces.

This is good for us as needlepointers because we will fill those areas up with stitches.
Tip #1 Look for designs with open areas which aren’t filled with lots of lines to be covered.

But (isn’t there always a but), in free embroidery other details, like facial expression are conveyed with lines and other details as well.

Here is where you have a problem. When you embroider on cloth you can stick a stitch anywhere, it can be any angle, it can stop or start anyplace. But with needlepoint you are stuck with the grid. The bigger the wholes, the fewer details you can convey. So a design with too many little details will lose them when changed to needlepoint.

It’s like looking at a scene through a screen as opposed to through a window. With the screen you can see everything, yes, but you lose detail. Needlepoint canvas is the screen.

In conclusion I thought today I would share with you some free embroidery sites where you can download new and vintage embroidery patterns.

If you want to play along with the tutorial, check back tomorrow to see the Arts & Crafts design I picked from this site. But you can pick one which suits your style and your mood and stitch away.

Check the designs out at these sites:
Embroidery Patterns – This Flickr album has many charming designs, many looking like children’s book illustrations.
TipNut – has a listing of all kinds of embroidery projects. Click on the link to find the particular project and then look through the article to find the pattern. Many of these are vintage and vintage style.
Meggiecat – has links to lots of great vintage patterns.
Needle n’Thread – Scroll down past the text ads to find many lovely patterns, often in traditional, Victorian, and Arts & Crafts styles.
Doe-c-doe – Every Thursday she showcases vintage embroidery and embroidery patterns. I’ve found lots of good things here.
Vintage Transfer Designs – Lots of great retro and vintage transfers.
Antique Pattern Library – This site is harder to use. It’s a list of vintage embroidery publiations available to download on the Web.

I’m sure you will find something to suit your fancy here. We’ll start the project tomorrow!

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Free Embroidery Patterns

Changing Colors on a Canvas

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Depending on what you want to change on the canvas, there are different ways to go about this.

There are some general rules to remember when changing colors:
1. If you are changing from one color to another (i.e. green to red for example) you will have the best results if you keep the colors the same in value.
2. If you are changing values (i.e. going from blonde to dark brown hair), you should color the canvas to something closer to the shade BEFORE you start to stitch. This will make any needlepoint dandruff blend into the stitching instead of sticking out.
3. Check the new colors you have chosen to be sure they work with the remaining colors by lining the colors up together. Sometimes changing one color means you will have to adjust or change other colors as well.

Skin & hair – If you are changing these areas, you should just be able to change them without changing other areas. But you might want to color the canvas first.

Geometrics – Since these don’t refer to anything in real life, you may find that changing one color affects the other colors. So if you changed green to red, you may find that you also need to change the yellow-green and the pink already in the piece in order to keep the overall piece in balance.

Not getting a balanced color scheme is probably the biggest problem when changing colors. If it is something realistic, look at real life objects the new color and make appropriate changes. For example, if you are stitching roses and change your red roses to yellow ones, you might need to change the leaf color. Many of my red roses have dark true green leaves, but my yellow ones have mid-range slightly yellowed green leaves.

In geometric or abstract designs, you need to be aware of the color scheme of the original and start by using that as the basis for your change. If the original is red and green and you change the red to violet, you probably need to change the green to yellow as well.

If you change the saturation of the colors (brightness) you must keep the value the same. If you go from greyed to bright, look for bright shades of the same color in the same value.

In geometrics, it’s critical to check the threads.

And always, when changing colors, you should be willing to make adjustments as you stitch.

See the article here:
Changing Colors on a Canvas

What’s your Needlepoint Question? – Book Sneak Peek

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Books,Nuts About Needlepoint

How do I replace a missing needlepoint chairseat?

Can I use a embroidery hoop to stitch needlepoint?

What is the American equivalent of 7 HPI canvas?

These are just three of the questions I’ve been asked recently, mostly through this site’s contact form.

I’m collecting these (and many, many others) into a Needlepoint Question & Answer Book that will come out later this year.

It will certainly be an ebook, PDF, and app ebook, and it may be available as a printed book and on CD as well.

You can help me as well by sending me your best needlepoint question. It can be something you’ve often wondered about, something you don’t know how to do, something you want to find, or anything else related to needlepoint.

Use the contact form, add a comment, or just email me. Be sure to let me know it’s for the book.

If your question is selected as one of the 200 in the book, you will get a free electronic copy (PDF).

IN the case of two or more people sending in the same question, the earliest one wins.

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What’s your Needlepoint Question? – Book Sneak Peek

What Color Should that Stitch Be?

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2007-08-08 06:22:44. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

You know that sinking feeling, the intersection on the hand-painted canvas is more than one color. You don’t know how to decide what color to stitch.

I call deciding this making an “executive decision” in needlepoint. I thought about what the process was for deciding and came up with some guidelines. Although beginners struggle with this issue, it can come up in just about any canvas which is not completely stitch-painted.

If one color covers more of the intersection than the other, stitch it in that color.

If it’s pretty much half and half, then you could do either. To help you choose, you can see if any of these apply:

1. Is it colored in both foreground and background colors? Choose the foreground color.

2. Is it the only intersection which has that color (no intersections with that color around it)? Choose the isolated color because it’s supposed to be a dot of that color.

3. Is it colored a light color and a dark color? Darker colors recede, so picking the darker color will probably make the two areas look more balanced.

4. I one color part of a line? Follow the line on the canvas to see how it will look if this intersection is stitched in that color. I’ve had it happen sometimes when stitching the color of the line instead of the other color made the line look bad.

Sometimes you choose wrong, everyone does. If this happens, don’t be afraid to pull the stitch out and use the other color.

Continue reading here:
What Color Should that Stitch Be?

Tracing Paper to Trace Canvas?

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Design,Nuts About Needlepoint,tools

The simple answer is NO, not ever, never.

I got this question recently from a reader.

This is the right way to transfer a design to canvas:

No you do not use tracing paper, the material in it will rub off and discolor your threads.

Here’s what you do:

Trace the outlines of your design on the paper with black marker so it is easy to see through the canvas.
Place the canvas on top of the design. If it’s hard to see, tape the design, then the canvas to a window or light box.
Using a permanent marker made for making on fabric (I like Pigma Microns from Sakura myself & they are widely available). trace the lines of the canvas.
Let sit overnight to dry completely before stitching.

YOu can see the steps used to do this in this illustrated tutorial.

I did lots of testing of potential canvas markers and wrote this post about them. I have used other markers and any marker can have the formula for the ink change and no longer be suitable for needlepoint. It’s good to test from time to time.

A final note: Never use anything to mark on canvas that isn’t waterproof, made for fabric, or tested. Always let dry overnight because many things become waterproof only after they dry completely.

Read the rest here:
Tracing Paper to Trace Canvas?

How to Build Up a Darning Pattern

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

I just love pattern darning. It creates such lovely flat look to your needlepoint that makes it just perfect for smooth or flat things. It also makes an outstanding background, as you can see from the picture here. (It’s from my Art Needlepoint class on this canvas.)

Another great thing about pattern darning is that it’s made from the most basic of stitches, the Running Stitch. And Mary Corbett shows us in this delightful post how a darning pattern is built from lines of Running Stitch, even if everything else about the project is wrong.

Just goes to show that even when you start out wrong the end result can be beautiful.

Thanks to Denise at Craft Gossip for pointing this out.

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How to Build Up a Darning Pattern

Backgrounds: The Finishing Touch – book review

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2003-09-19 06:38:51. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

BACKGROUNDS: THE FINISHING TOUCH by Ann Strite-Kurz

The choice of a background which is both appropriate for the design and beautiful is a decision which often perplexes stitchers. But all stitchers agree that the right choice can really make the design.

Ann Strite-Kurz’s teaching projects project packs and stitching are well known for their wonderful open backgrounds. No matter what the design, you will find innovative open backgrounds enhancing her work.

In this book Ann has taken canvases (of her own and by many others) and used them as the basis for a book about open background techniques. It is comprehensive and dense with information.

The first chapter opens with a short history of needlepoint and then has what I think of as the heart of the book. Well over 100 canvases are pictured and the backgrounds are analyzed. Each design is pictured in black and white in the book and then in color on the accompanying CD. A second picture of a detail section of the background is also on the CD. Each canvas is analyzed and information is given about how the background was developed or why it is an appropriate choice. In the section Ann classifies the different types of backgrounds into classes such as mat backgrounds, painted backgrounds or partial backgrounds.

Following this chapter are six chapters of techniques which show you how to do many of the techniques seen in the pictured canvases. The second chapter covers planning and execution of open backgrounds including detailed suggestions for starting and stopping threads so they won’t show and how to plan a background to work with the design.

The remaining chapters are all devoted to specific techniques. In each chapter there is an explanation on how to work the technique (if needed) and then the patterns are discussed. Anyone who has read Ann’s previous books knows how thorough her diagrams and explanations are, and this book is no exception. For example, Pattern 11, Diamond Outlines in Tied Oblong Crosses has a large diagram of the over all pattern, a detailed explanation of the pattern and when to use it (it is a large scale pattern with oblique stitches, so it needs to be planned carefully). then there is another explanation with diagrams of how to stitch the pattern. The section ends with some suggestions (accompanied by diagrams) on how to make the pattern more dense.

Because the book is packed densely with information it is a book to be savored and read over and over again. Pick a canvas, page through the CD to find ideas, then through the book to find a background you like, everything you need to know to make these open patterns an asset to your canvas is there.

We are so lucky to have Ann and her wonderful way of analyzing patterns available to us.

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Backgrounds: The Finishing Touch – book review

Crosspoint – A Different Kind of Needlepoint

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Crosspoint is needlepoint but needlepoint with a difference. It’s a great break for people who like charted designs and it’s a wonderful transition for Cross Stitchers who want to try something more like traditional needlepoint.

It’s charted so the design is not printed on the ground.

But the big differences are in the ground and the stitch. Crosspoint is not stitched on needlepoint canvas but on natural jute fabric. This fabric is worked in hand, not on stretcher bars. Like traditional needlepoint and unlike Cross Stitch, the background is completely covered.

The stitches are complete Cross Stitches, not the Tent Stitch of needlepoint. If you have ever stitched an Elizabeth Bradley kit, you will have done this.

If you are looking for a needlepoint change, try Crosspoint.

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